62
She picked up from their scent, their touch, and looking deeply into their eyes that Detective Harmon was intelligent, stable, and healthy while his partner was a borderline psychopath with liver disease and a bad addiction to cocaine. She gestured to the chairs before her desk and walked back to hers. She felt their eyes on her ass but Harmon looked away while Morris struggled not to act on his impulse.
Once they were seated she leaned forward slightly to trap their eyes in her cleavage and launched her first question.
“Gentlemen, how may VRL be of assistance to you today?”
Harmon cleared his throat and began. “We’re investigating the abduction attempt on one of your employees, Stanley Garin.” He watched her reaction closely and all of the physical cues he’d been expecting were present. She was worried about her employee, frightened that the abduction had even happened, and relieved that he’d gotten away safe and sound.
“During our investigation, we discovered the scene of the crime had been cleaned professionally and was being repaired. These repairs were paid for nominally by a company you are acquainted with according to your niece. Ulysses Global Investments.”
Camila frowned. “They went out of business weeks ago. I find it unlikely that they could be involved in this.”
“You were aware of the company’s dissolution?” Harmon asked.
Camila was aware that Morris was staring at her tits rather blatantly. As this kept him occupied she ignored him, aside from pulling her shoulders back slightly to expose a little more of her chest. “Yes, and it came as no surprise. Ulysses is a terrible businessman.”
“Why- why would he try to abduct Stanley?” Morris blurted, shifting on the chair to give his erection room in his pants.
Camila looked at the Detective in surprise. “You have evidence of Ulysses’ involvement in the actual kidnapping?”
From the scowl on Morris’ face Camila knew the answer was no.
“I didn’t think so. There probably isn’t any. He’s not that bright. Of course, the kidnapping failed so that’s very much his style,” she said shaking her head.
“That seems like a rather personal observation,” Harmon noted.
“Yes, well… I had a brief relationship with the man before I realized how useless he was. It was a long time ago. The only reason he started his little investment firm was to try to show me how wrong I was to dump him. Once more, he failed.”
She could tell Detective Morris was becoming agitated by her ball busting. So, he was likely a misogynist too. Wasn’t he a delight! She ran a finger down the side of her neck and saw Detective Morris watching the fingertip descend. She could tell he was ripe for cracking. Any moment.
Camila and Mr. Duncan had met at Sigrid’s last night to discuss why the Fae had chosen to implicate Ulysses in the crime. The only reason they could come up with was to focus attention back on VRL. They were breaking another Hidden Races rule. When dealing with the Human legal process never implicate another member of the Hidden Races. She would have to bring this to the Council’s attention.
“Do you have an address for Ulysses? Does he have a last name?” Harmon asked.
“Sorry. No, I’ve completely distanced myself from him so I have no knowledge of his whereabouts at all. And he always went by the one name,” Camila answered.
“Could he have grabbed Mr. Garin to force him to steal your company’s digital assets or to hack in to simply destroy your company?” Harmon asked after glancing at his partner who just seemed fixated on the woman’s chest.
“I could speculate but I honestly don’t have any real insight into what thoughts go through that man’s little brain. I can tell you that Stanley designed our new network to eliminate that kind of risk. All external access is vetted by a rather ingenious firewall of his own design that immediately notifies our Security personnel should the behavior of incoming requests fall outside of expected parameters.”
“Shit, this is a new level of bullshit! Every software developer adds in a back door for themselves!” Morris barked, venting his intense frustration.
“Not Stanley,” she said with a satisfied smile. She could see the Detective was well beyond his endurance.
“Fuck this!”
“Morris!” Harmon barked as his partner suddenly stood up.
“Nah, I’m done. This case is going nowhere because none of these people want to cooperate. They don’t want to know who kidnapped the little shit. Fuck, they could all be in on it for all we know. I’m done wasting my time. We haven’t even proven a crime actually happened! All we have is that damn amateur video which could have been faked and the weak testimony from a few witnesses but none of it proves anything. There are cases out there that need our attention more than this one.” The big man headed for the door.
Harmon looked at Camila in embarrassment and stood as well. “Thank you for your time.”
Camila stood and shook his hand across the desk. She scented him once more and smiled. He smelled very good.
With a final nod, Harmon rushed out after his partner. He stopped and handed her assistant his business card.
He caught up with Morris at the elevator. He took in the flushed expression and the almost manic look in his eye. Their escort, the large red bearded brute in a black suit stood behind them in silence. The elevator arrived and they all got in.
Harmon wanted to ask his partner what the fuck was wrong with him but he’d have to wait until they were alone. It was an awkward ride to the lobby. As they made their way to the front door the Security officer finally spoke.
“Have a good afternoon, detectives.”
Morris looked back at the smiling man. “Fuck you.”
Harmon saw the red head chuckle as Morris pushed his way outside.
Once they were on the street heading back to the car it was Harmon’s turn. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Morris stopped and took a deep breath. He turned to glare at his partner. “Why are we wasting time on this case?”
“It’s our job! Crimes were committed and we solve them! It’s what we do, detective!” Harmon growled.Owned by NôvelDrama.Org.
“What crime? There is nothing to this case! The shrimp gets grabbed but gets away! The scene is a demo zone but it’s been professionally cleaned. Dead end. The name on the work order leads to an empty office building that’s also been cleaned. Dead end. None of the people involved have anything to say. Even the so-called victim told us to fuck off! It’s time to drop the case because THERE. IS. NO. CASE!” he finished with a shout.
“Tell me your gut doesn’t tell you that people died in the crime scene! Even that office building gave off the vibe!” Harmon exclaimed.
“It doesn’t matter because there’s no proof! And nobody cares! What the fuck is wrong with you that you can’t see that!” Morris bellowed back. He glared at his partner but could see he wasn’t getting through to the Boy Scout. “Fuck it! I need a drink. Maybe two.” He raised his hand and flagged down a passing taxi.
Harmon stared at Morris in surprise and frustration. He didn’t stop him though. As the taxi pulled away he actually felt a little relieved. He still had a job to do. When he’d stopped after leaving Ms. Villamor’s office he’d spotted a calendar entry on the executive assistant’s screen while he distracted the man with the card. He hadn’t been able to read much but he saw a 7PM meeting that said ’45 Rockefeller’ and ‘Stanley’.
Detective Harmon intended to be there too.
Stanley was doing his best to keep his breathing under control. He admitted to himself that he was riding the edge of panic and had been all the way uptown to Rockefeller Center. Apparently there was a large meeting room in a sub-sub-basement that was magically shielded from surveillance and set aside exclusively for Hidden Races Council business. There he would be presented to the Council as well as representatives of the Fae Council. His secret would be out in the open… well, not completely.
Their SUV stopped before the huge building and everyone but their driver exited out on the sidewalk. Stanley felt his feet carrying him away from the others and only the firm grip of Mr. Duncan’s hand on his shoulder kept him from bursting into a sprint. He stopped and looked back at Roy and saw he was smiling at him. He forced himself to turn and follow Camila and Sigrid who were all giving him sympathetic smiles. Marisa wasn’t looking his way but followed her mother, eyes on the ground.
Roy’s arm rested lightly over his shoulder, his big hand on Stanley’s right. He took strength from that gentle support.
Walter was waiting for them at the entrance to the building with a wide smile. Stanley couldn’t help but see the Dragon’s wide maw full of razor sharp teeth. He took no comfort from the lawyer’s smile.
They made their way inside and walked through the concourse to a service elevator which took them several floors down into the basement. Then it was a trek through blank hallways to a set of stairs that took them down once more. They exited into more blank hallways and after uncounted turns Stanley was looking at huge metal doors that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a bank’s vault. Two men in dark grey suits stood on either side of the door. They stared hard at Stanley but after a few quiet words from Walter they nodded to the lawyer and pulled the massively heavy doors open.
The area beyond the doors was impossible to see clearly. It was like trying to see through rippling water. The group moved forward and passed through the barrier which tingled on Stanley’s skin.